The Nile Project
Hello TED Friends....
I'm here in San Francisco, relishing a rather rare moment of hilltop gazing, getting ready to head out on tour tomorrow. Much time has passed since I've last written, but it's been a beautiful few months. And of course, there's lots to share.
First - THE NILE PROJECT - This is my big new initiative. It is a multicultural musical platform that will bring together hip-hop, traditional and contemporary musicians living in the Nile countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt) to play and record music, to tour down the river and its source lakes on a boat made of recycled water bottles, and connect the people of the river to each other and to the broader world. Loosely based on the Silk Road Project, and created by myself and Egyptian ethnomusicologist Mina Girgis, the Nile Project explores the intersection of ecology and culture across much of East Africa.
We are in the homestretch of a kickstarter campaign, and oh-so-close to our $10,000 kickstarter goal... Only $1300 left to go to make it to the finish line. And you know how kickstarter is.... If you don't raise it all, you don't get a thing. We just need a few word spreaders to tip us over the top! Post away!
Second, a new album.... ALMOST COMPLETE. CopperWire's Earthbound. It's a hip-hop space opera made in collaboration with two Arba Minch Collective members, Gabriel Teodros and Burntface, and born out of our last trip to Ethiopia. Using metaphors of space travel and intergalactic distances, we explore diaspora and cultural connection and disconnection. NASA star sounds are in the songs. Yes indeed. The website is in progress, but just launched. Check it out at www.copperwiremusic.com.
Third - an East Coast tour coming up NEXT WEEK with shows in Montreal, Burlington, Boston, Pittsburgh, Arlington/Washington DC, and New York City. Please join me! http://www.facebook.com/events/226843364063717/The adventure continues!
More - very - soon,
Meklit
More - very - soon,
Meklit
Posted by Meklit Hadero
